Philosophy of sex is an aspect of applied philosophy involved with the study of sex and love. It includes both ethics of phenomena such as prostitution, rape, sexual harassment, sexual identity, the age of consent, homosexuality, and conceptual analysis of concepts such as "what is sex?" It also includes questions of sexuality and sexual identity and the ontological status of gender. Leading contemporary philosophers of sex include Alan Soble and Judith Butler.
Contemporary philosophy of sex is sometimes informed by Western feminism. Issues raised by feminists regarding gender differences, sexual politics, and the nature of sexual identity are important questions in the philosophy of sex.
- What is the function of sex?
- What is romantic love?
- Is there an essential characteristic that makes an act sexual?
- Are some sexual acts good and others bad? According to what criteria? Alternatively, can consensual sexual acts be immoral, or are they outside the realm of ethics?
- What is the relationship between sex and biological reproduction? Can one exist without the other?
- Are sexual identities rooted in some fundamental ontological difference (such as biology)?
- Is sexuality a function of gender or biological sex?
History of the philosophy of sex
Throughout
much of the history of Western philosophy, questions of sex and
sexuality have been considered only within the general subject of
ethics. There have, however, been deviations from this pattern out of
which emerge a tradition of speaking of sexual issues in their own
right.
The Society for the Philosophy of Sex and Love is a professional group within the membership of the American Philosophical Association.
Sexual desire
Moral
evaluations of sexual activity are determined by judgments on the
nature of the sexual impulse. In this light, philosophies fall into two
camps:
A negative understanding of sexuality, such as from Immanuel Kant, believes that sexuality undermines values, and challenges our moral treatment of other persons.
Sex, says Kant, "makes of the loved person an Object of appetite".
In this understanding, sex is often advised only for the purpose of procreation. Sometimes sexual celibacy is considered to lead to the best, or most moral life.
A positive understanding of sexuality – such as from Russell Vannoy, Irving Singer – sees sexual activity as pleasing the self and the other at the same time.
Putative perversions
Thomas Nagel proposes that only sexual interactions with mutual sexual arousal
are natural to human sexuality. Perverted sexual encounters or events
would be those in which this reciprocal arousal is absent, and in which a
person remains fully a subject of the sexual experience or fully an
object.
